Category Archives: Models

This is what we’re all about. We scour the web for the best custom LEGO models to share with you. From castles and spaceships to planes, trains, and automobiles, you’ll find the best LEGO creations from builders all over the world right here on The Brothers Brick.

Red is the new grey

When I think of castles, I usually think of a grey structure, especially when the castle is built from LEGO bricks. There are only so many LEGO colors that look like stone, after all. Perhaps something tan would work, or black if the castle is for bad guys. And then comes Anthony Wilson, building a castle out of red and dark red. Those aren’t stone colors! What could he be thinking? It is called outside the box, I believe, and sometimes it even works. Given the Ninjago figures with multi-tailed canines and the transparent blue crystals, the red creates a beautiful fantasy atmosphere.

Northern Ruin

I’ve always admired builders who can do excellent round towers, and this is no exception. Someday I’ll have enough 1×1 round bricks to play like a big kid, too. The variation in colors is just right, and a 1×2 plate here and there creates a refreshing change in textures from the smooth 1×2 tiles. Don’t miss the stud shooters serving as broken crenelations at the top, or the wheel arch over the window. The slick round black base ties it all together and makes the presentation oh-so-sharp. Almost as sharp as those magical crystals look…Almost.

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Use the Force to build an affordable X-Wing for X-Mas

Each year, the LEGO Group presents its employees with an exclusive winter holiday gift set. Such sets often celebrate LEGO’s past, and this year’s offering is a special Christmas-themed X-Wing to commemorate the 20th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars. While you can track it down via eBay, the X-Wing makes for one heck of pricey “stocking stuffer.” Fortunately, Pascal Hetzel has devised a solution to help you save those credits for a rainy day. Despite its diminutive size, it’s a faithful representation that preserves the spirit of the original. The only feature missing is the sleigh, but you can always use the Force to build your own.

Christmas X-Wing Microscale

Happy Life Day everyone!

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In space, no one can hear you poop

I felt a great disturbance in Billund, as if a handful of voices (in a boardroom) suddenly cried out in glee and were jumping with joy. Yes, you heard that right; Disney expanding the Star Wars lore can only mean that LEGO will get to cash in on more ideas for vehicles including the new space vehicle called the Razor Crest from the Disney+ hit show, The Mandalorian. An official set has yet to surface, but this build by Michał M. is enough to fill the void for now, capturing the essentials from the show’s now-iconic ship.

Razor Crest

Click to see more of this magnificent Mandalorian ship

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It’s all grist to the mill

Bakers were the unsung wizards of medieval times — taking the base material of the fields and transforming it into sustenance by the manipulation of the energies of water and fire. If that wasn’t the advertising campaign of the Bakers’ Guilds then they were missing a trick. Marcel V.‘s LEGO mill is a great example of the Castle building style applied to something other than castles or military scenes. The subtly-textured walls are broken up by some smart wooden trim, and there’s nice parts-usage and building technique on display if you go in for a closer look. Don’t miss the book used for the little roof above the window, the stonework around the door, and the dark brown spears as edge trims. The tiled roof is good too, although it might have benefited from a smattering of some other colour. My favourite touches of detail are easily missed in a casual view — those flour sacks out-front are lovely, and the dark tan axles as straw in the horse’s manger are excellent.

Sofia's Journey - Ol'Zeke's Water Mill

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Everything’s great when you’re downtown

Take a trip back in time with Andrew Tate‘s bustling downtown scene, depicting a LEGO city during the 1930s. There’s a corner bakery, a menswear store, and a lovely cinema featuring the Egyptian architectural motifs popular on such buildings at the time. The streets are nicely busy, with a tram and a period-appropriate car, and packed full of minifigure action. In a refreshing change for a model set in such an era, there’s not a mobster to be seen! I particularly like the variety of colour and styling in the upper storeys of the buildings, and the top-most portion of the cinema frontage is just fabulous.

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Armor up for your holiday shopping

We all know that shopping for that perfect gift can be a real nightmare. Sure, shopping online has made things a lot nicer. But sometimes you still have to go out into the crowds and fight hand-to-hand for those discounted LEGO sets that you a loved one really wants. It can be hazardous, particularly if someone else tries to shove you out of the way. So why not take some precautions? For example, you could don the wearable Roman Centurion armor that Amado Canlas Pinlac created.
Built from an interlocking mesh of ball-jointed plates, it’s the rich colors and decoration that really make this a stand-out piece of art. Dark red 2×2 tiles resonate well with a myriad of gold elements. There are plant stems, rounded tiles, and even carriage wheels.
Roman Centurion Armor
Repeated blocks of curved slopes feature heavily on the shoulders and back. Golden window lattices and minifigure weapons help define geometric patterns on the rear as well.
Roman Centurion Armor
Okay, maybe this isn’t something that would be super-practical to wear while fighting for bargains. But I bet if you did, it would be a huge distraction to the other shoppers. And while they’re asking “how long did it take you to make that?” you can make off with all the best sets. Victory is assured!

You can read our interview with Amado here.

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A bridge too far

The most important part of an Imperial Star Destroyer is the bridge. Thus, any LEGO build of it deserves incredible detail, which is exactly what JS_Ninjnerd has done here.

Star Destroyer Bridge

This highly-detailed model includes the essentials for what we’ve seen in the Star Wars movies. Triangular windows and the crew pits are immediately eye-catching, but upon closer inspection you can see the computer panels, angled sloped pieces, and color consistency that give this build a clean, smooth Imperial look.

Another aspect that I like is the amount of Imperial personnel in the display: nine crew members and officers, three stormtroopers and Lord Vader. Any scene featuring the might and technological prowess of the Empire would need to include figures like these.

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Rudolf the hot rod brings toys and oatmeal to all the children of the world

With a bit more than a week left until Christmas, Santa will need to up his game if he wants to deliver toys to all the good children of the world (except, of course, those who don’t have Santa in their holiday traditions). Thankfully Ian Ying has a solution with this extra blingy Rudolf Hot Rod. It has all the horsepower (or deer-power) needed to get the job done and there is enough custom and official LEGO pieces in shiny chrome to make any hot rod enthusiast’s heart go pitter-patter. The red-nosed deer skull hood ornament offers a clue as to what became of Rudolf. Good riddance, I say! I just wish it had more trunk space. I don’t know about you but the list of toys I want is quite long and I’ve been such a good boy this year…at least on the books anyway. Also it seems this Santa bears a striking resemblance to this Wilford guy.

RudolphHotRod1

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A tale of Persian Tomcats

The last of the US Navy’s Tomcat fighters — the plane of Top Gun fame — made its final flight more than a decade ago. However, Tomcats continue to soldier on in one other military: the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Given its strained relation with the US, it may seem strange for Iran to have some of these iconic jets, but it is due to a quirk of history. Prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution, Mohammad Reza Shah ruled Iran. His rule became increasingly autocratic over time, but he was pro-Western and eager to modernize his country and its military. Iran was also a useful buffer between the Soviet Union and the other oil-rich states surrounding the Persian Gulf, so the US was willing to sell the Shah 80 Tomcats, as well as hundreds of long-range AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missiles. My latest LEGO model represents one of these Persian Tomcats.

After the 1979 revolution, relations between the US and Iran soured. Subsequently, the US suspended weapons and spare parts deliveries. The serviceability of the Iranian Tomcat fleet dwindled, but their Tomcats had some successes in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Details are murky, but according to Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop, the Iranian planes shot down dozens of Iraqi fighter aircraft. Forty years later, thanks to illicit parts acquisitions and reverse-engineering, some survivors are still flying, and I finally built one.
Continue reading

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I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore

I love books. In fact, I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. Ok, perhaps I was just imagining the mahogany, but I do have lots of books, and some are leather-bound. I don’t own an e-reader of any kind, and hope never to do so, because the magic of holding a book, especially hardcover, is irreplaceable. People give me strange looks when I pick up a used book at a store and give it a sniff and say, “Ah, that’s a proper year 1900 binding…a good vintage.” Builder Lego_nuts must have a soft spot for books, too, because this build evokes the magic of literacy, the opening of portals to adventure. Dorothy looks worried, unsure if she should continue on with the story, but the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man are encouraging her to journey to the next page. Will she go on? Like, seriously, isn’t there a movie version she can watch instead?

“Don’t be afraid, you will have a wonderful adventure!”

The build is beautifully executed, utilizing a clever camera angle to capture the scene on the right-hand page. The foliage and warm lighting from the doorway are stunningly inviting, drawing the viewer deeper into the moment. The left-hand scene is lovely, too, in a bas-relief kind of way, though far fancier than the house that Dorothy is described as living in (if you don’t believe me, read the text on the pages in the picture). I am impressed by the photography and setup that went into this one, making me want to swing from that rope and journey on with my fellow adventurers.

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This is the LEGO Baby Yoda you’ve been looking for

Baby Yoda has been taking the internet by storm since its oh-so-cute appearance in Disney’s new Star Wars show The Mandalorian, and LEGO builders are getting in on the game too. In fact, we’ve already featured not one but two versions of the green alien infant by Miro Dudas and hachiroku24, and both even have instructions for you to build your own. However, this latest digital version by L-DI-EGO is a much larger scale and is captures the adorably large eyes and trusting expression better than ever. The as-yet-unnamed little guy comes complete with big expressive ears and a voluminous robe made of dark tan, with exposed studs for texturing.

Baby Yoda (or wathever the species is)

And before you ask, no, the builder has not provided instructions for this guy. You’ll just have to reverse engineer it all on your own, but here’s a hint: the lower lip and forehead are made of shoulder armor bits.

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The grind of updating the Ground Machine

The MRGM 3 Multi Role Ground Machine by builder Marco Marozzi is a complex example of mechanical evolution. While the initial version felt sleek and light, this third generation is a much beefier model. Some core elements remain the same; a Bionicle Rahkshi back cover forms the spine, and Knights Kingdom armor protects the arms and legs. But you can see the shine of a new model in the shins and lower body. There, the armor has been updated to have a much more textured feel. And that giant gun is also a brand new accessory.

MRGM 3 Multi Role Ground Machine

We’ve featured several of Marco’s other mechs in the past, and I’m confident we’ll see even more in the future. I’m looking forward to seeing what the Mark 4 has in store for us…

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